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Local residents’ signs calling for the withdrawal of the THAAD missile defense system

The Blue House announced on June 7 that it would wait for the completion of the Defense Ministry’s environmental impact assessment before deciding whether to commit to deploying the other four THAAD launchers that have been brought into South Korea. But it made clear that it does not intend to remove the two launchers and the X-band radar that are already deployed at the golf course in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province. Considering that an environmental impact assessment typically takes a year, the complete deployment of the THAAD battery (which consists of an X-band radar and six launchers) will likely be delayed accordingly.

“During the THAAD deployment, the Defense Ministry decided to carry out a ‘small-scale environmental impact assessment’ without discussing the issue at all with the Ministry of Environment, and then it moved forward with that assessment. While nothing can be done about the progress that has already been made on the current small-scale environmental impact assessment, the question of additional deployment will be decided after the environmental impact assessment is complete,” a senior official at the Blue House told reporters on June 7.

The installation of a military facility typically involves the following steps: the strategic environmental impact assessment, the project approval notice, the acquisition of land, the submission of blueprints, the environmental impact assessment (or a small-scale environmental impact assessment for sites under 330,000 square meters), and the initiation of construction. But the Blue House official drew attention to procedural problems with the THAAD deployment: “The Ministry of Defense moved ahead with the small-scale environmental impact assessment of the THAAD site on Dec. 20, 2016, but US Forces Korea submitted their plans for the THAAD deployment site in March of this year. Procedure requires a series of steps beginning with the strategic environmental impact assessment, but the strategic environmental impact assessment was skipped. The Ministry of Defense decided to carry out a small-scale environmental impact assessment without discussing this at all with the Ministry of Environment, as it’s supposed to do, and it was only after this assessment was carried out that the blueprint [for deployment] was submitted.”

This official also responded to newspaper reports claiming that the THAAD site is not subject to an environmental impact assessment because the project area is only 100,000 square meters. “This appears to reflect some confusion between ‘project area’ and the legal term of ‘military facility area.’ The related laws and implementation orders show that not only the radar and launchers but all the land being provided must be regarded as the military facility’s project area,” the official said.

In a related development, the Office of the Prime Minister announced on the same day that it would be setting up and running a government-wide joint task force in order to increase transparency in the THAAD deployment process, including the environmental impact assessment.

By Lee Jung-ae and Jung In-hwan, staff reporters

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